Welcome to Speech!

What is Speech & Language?

“Speech” can be thought of as verbal communication. It is the set of sounds that we make (using our voice and our articulators) that comprise syllables, words, and sentences. Speech alone carries no meaning; it is merely different sounds. There are three main components of speech:

Articulation (how we make each sound)

Voicing (using our vocal cords)

Fluency (intonation and rhythm)

“Language” encompasses how we use speech to formulate sentences in order to communicate. Language also consists of three parts:

Expressive (the words and sentences we produce)

Receptive (what we understand) and

Pragmatics (social communication of the rules of communication)

How to Encourage Speech and Language

Communicative Temptations: Create situation where the child needs to gesture, vocalize, or verbalize to have his or her needs met before giving desired object.

Imitation: Having a child imitate you helps him or her to produce words and sounds at appropriate times (i.e. saying “hi” to animal toys as you take them out of a box.)

Expanding: Using a child’s language and expanding it to make it more complex (i.e. child says “ball,” adult can say, “That is your ball!”)